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Shuos Jedao
Shuos Jedao, born Garach Jedao Shkan and having also used the undercover name Arioi Sren, was a Shuos soldier who served the heptarchate and hexarchate both during his lifetime and, as a revenant, after his death. He appears throughout the Machineries of Empire continuity. For the version of Shuos Jedao who appears in Revenant Gun, see Jedao Two. Appearance and Personality Jedao was a leanly muscular man of middling height, with dark eyes, an unremarkable face, and a wide scar on his neck just above the collar. As an anchored revenant, Jedao's presence is visible only in his anchor's shadow, which generally appears as his own shadow with nine candle-yellow eyes, and their reflection, which appears as his. The shadow can defy physics and change shape. Jedao's voice can only be heard by his anchor or another revenant. He does not sleep and has a 360% range of vision around his anchor's body. All of Jedao's anchors have experienced bleed-through of his body language, reflexes, and accent; emotional bleedthrough is rare but possible.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 4 Personal Life Jedao was born to Garach Ledana, an eccentric Shparoi agricultural researcher. He met his noncustodial father, Koiresh Shkan, only twice. Jedao and his half-siblings Rodao and Nidana, also born of noncustodial fathers, were raised on Ledana's farm and were familiar with agriculture and Shparoi customs. Jedao was on good terms with his siblingsBunny, A Belated Blessing and caused his share of trouble on the farm, including an explosive incident involving his mother's food processor when he was twelve.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 He was also "adopted" by a gosling which became less cute as it grew up; during his adulthood, Ledana sent him goose fat rendered from the goose's distant descendant.Extracurricular Activities Though superficially gregarious in his military service, Jedao had no long-term friends or lovers.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 18 He preferred intimacy with men and slept with few womanforms, medically insuring that no offspring would result.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 10 He was known to have been intimate with fellow cadets Vestenya Ruo and Lirov Yeren,Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 among others, and endured a public sexual assault by Heptarch Shuos Khiaz. His relationships with Heptarch Nirai KujenNinefox Gambit, Chapter 21 and Rhi TeshetExtracurricular Activitieswere not a matter of historical record, nor was the fact that he had always wanted children.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21 Career Shuos Academy Jedao attended Shuos Academy. In his first year, Jedao hesitated to declare a track, considering languages due to his linguistic facility.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 His reflexes were in the ninety-sixth percentile, which an instructor remarked could be an asset or a liability for an assassin. The only class he had trouble with was math, due to a form of dyscalculia.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21 However, he worked hard and passed those classes too. During the yearly game competition, Jedao anonymously created a game designed to trick others into committing small heresies. One night, he learned from Yeren that Ruo, his first Academy friend and a former lover, had committed suicide after being caught using the game to frame a visiting Rahal magistrate. Another cadet, Chenoi Tiana, claimed to have created the game and was commended for it, and Jedao, having lost his best friend, did not reveal his authorship. After Ruo's suicide, Jedao switched to the Academy's assassin's track, with analysis on the side.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 Jedao also met Shuos Meng during a class exercise. The two remained friends during their subsequent careers. Other classmates included Veller, Noe Irin,Extracurricular Activities and MeurranSquirrel-Fishing. Wetwork Jedao spent some time working for Heptarch Khiaz, analyzing data in her officeNinefox Gambit, Chapter 22 and eventually working directly under her as an assassin for eight months.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2 Though he was one of her better assassins,Extracurricular Activities, he sensed her predatory intent and transferred to the Kel as soon as he could. He worked with Shuos Sereset to deploy Shuos shouters and assassinate the general of the Axers. Sereset was wounded by a stray Kel bullet on the battlefield and Jedao was with him when he died.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 Kel Service Jedao entered the military as infantry due to his tactical ability, instead of the usual intelligence position given to a Shuos seconded to the Kel. As a lieutenant, he got his company out of a bad situation in which all the Kel officers who outranked him had been killed, winning enough trust from the Kel to be given all their worst assignments.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 Under the name Arioi Sren, Jedao, then a commander, took the Carp merchant troop to Du Station to retrieve Shuos Meng from the Gwa Reality. Afterwards, Brigadier General Kel Essier assigned him to her third tactical group, commanding the fangmoth Sieve of Glass; the advancement also came with an overdue promotion.Extracurricular Activities During his service with the Kel, Jedao cultivated working friendships with the most effective and high-ranking Kel generals, using competitive games and hunting trips to learn their styles of thought and command.Ninefox Gambit, Chapters 12, 22 After becoming a high officer, he met Kel Gized at an Andan flower-viewing party, dueled her, and won, later choosing her as his chief of staff.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 At another Andan party shortly after his promotion to brigadier general, a decade after he left Shuos infantry for the Kel, Jedao was raped by Heptarch Khiaz. Gized prevented him from committing suicide afterwards. Not much later, during a refit at a Nirai station, Jedao was confronted by Hexarch Nirai Kujen. Aware of Kujen's identity and reputation, Jedao immediately shot him. Kujen merely walked in again in a different body and offered him a partnership in what he had deduced was Jedao's desire to bring down the calendar. Seeing some advantages and, more importantly, no way out, Jedao accepted.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21 After being promoted to lieutenant general, Jedao took part in the Kel campaign against the Aughens and was tasked with executing five disgraced Kel who had failed their formation, a frequent occurrence before the development of formation instinct. A year later he rose to general, prompting a new round of gossip about how fast Kel Command kept promoting him.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 During the Lanterner Rebellion, Jedao was pulled off medical leave after surviving an assassination attempt and given the remains of deceased general Kel Najhera's decimated swarm. Despite his injuries, Jedao led his eleven damaged fangmoths to an eight-to-one victory at Candle Arc. His swarm then joined the Twin Axes swarm at the Taurag border.The Battle of Candle Arc Jedao later used the grand formation Skyfall to devastating effect in the Battle of Severed Hands.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 10 When the Lanterners began to use their children and wounded as human shields, Jedao consulted High General Kel Garit, who instructed him to fire through them. Though horrified at killing children, Jedao carried out his orders.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21 Hellspin Fortress and Execution Once he understood what he had done, he begged for death. Rahal interrogators found a singularity response to their scrying: the Immolation Fox. Khiaz, believing that he had feared death, ordered his body turned over to Kujen, who placed him in the black cradle to endure an endless undeath. In a fit of anger, Khiaz also signed him over to the Kel Arsenal as a weapon, removing him from direct Shuos oversight. Undeath Kujen's psych surgery resulted at first in a completely tractable and penitent revenant with no tactical ability. His Kel liaison demanded talent and pain instead. Kujen obliged. With his tactical genius restored, Jedao was anchored to living humans and fielded numerous times as a Kel weapon, and returned to the black cradle afterwards. He won every battle in which he was fielded. Second Death Influence and Legacy Hexarch Shuos Mikodez keeps interpreters on hand for every language spoken by Shuos Jedao, including Tlen-Gwa.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 9 Relationships Vestenya Ruo Shuos Meng Rhi Teshet Shuos Khiaz Kel Gized Kel Menowen Nirai Kujen Shuos Mikodez Kel Cheris Development * In the original draft for Ninefox Gambit, Jedao was a sociopath who, in a childhood flashback, vivisected a pet goose. The author's family now has roast goose for Thanksgiving in Jedao's honor. In rewrites, Jedao's sociopathy was transferred to Kujen. On an alpha reader's advice, the author also experimented with sexual tension in Cheris and Jedao's relationship, but disliked the result intensely and removed it.TheBookSmugglers interview: Oops, I Accidentally Wrote A Trilogy Trivia * Jedao's first anchor was Kel Streven.Author's remarks * Jedao will appear as "The Drowned General" in Hexarchate Tarot.Author's design The card stands for disaster and failure through hubris; reversed, it evokes ambition or a high-risk, high-gain gamble.Hexarchate Tarot: Major Arcana References Category:Shuos Category:Heptarchate Category:Hexarchate Category:Deceased